Lab 6: Enzymes
Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to test for enzyme activity, look at enzyme specificity, and how temperature affects enzyme activity.
Hypothesis: I believe that the room temperature activity will produce the most activity.
Materials: 3% hydrogen peroxide, a household blender, potatoes (3 medium size potatoes, that are peeled and quartered), tap water, 8 test tubes, 8 transfer pipets, sugar packets, salt, a small saucepan, a refrigerator with a freezer, stove, 4 clear plastic cups, tongs (to remove test tubes from boiling water), 4 coffee cups, cheesecloth to filter the potato extract, a wax pencil or Sharpie marker, a ruler, scale or balance, 250 ml graduated cylinder, and oven mitt or tongs.
Methods: 1. Research (online) the reaction between catalase and hydrogen peroxide and be familiar with the reactants, products, and enzyme. You will include the overall reaction in your lab report for this experiment. We will measure enzyme activity by measuring the height of the bubbles produced.
2. Prepare the potato extract (catalase) using the following technique:
- peel 3 medium size potatoes and cut them into quarters
-add the potatoes to the blender with 250 mls of tap water to cover the potatoes and blend on high until the potatoes are pureed (blended to a thick liquid or paste)
- place a cheesecloth over a container and use the cheesecloth to obtain the liquid portion (only) of your potato puree. You can squeeze the cheesecloth in the end to obtain the final portions of the liquid from the puree.
- Make a 1% sucrose solution using the method describe in your osmosis lab.
- Make a 1% salt solution by measuring 1 gram of salt using your scale or balance, add this to your graduated cylinder and then fill to the 100 ml mark. You can then transfer this mixture to a small saucepan, heat and stir until the mixture is dissolved.
Experiment 1: Testing for Enzymatic Activity
Step 1: Add 3mls of the following solutions to a